8 April: The City of Oslo plans to re-open kindergartens and schools
Press release: The City of Oslo plans to start a gradual and controlled re-opening of kindergartens from 20 April, and schools from 27 April. The City of Oslo will also open a comprehensive service for City quarantine places for people who are infected and cannot stay at home.
Note: Information about measures taken against the spread of the Corona virus is changed on an ongoing basis. This means that the information in the press release may be outdated. You will find updated information on the web page Corona virus: Information on the Corona virus and measures that have been implemented in the city of Oslo.
Since 28 February, the City government has been on emergency alert, and since 11 March this has been at the highest level. The City officials release updates about steps taken to prevent further spreading of the Coronavirus.
Since 13 March, the City of Oslo has kept kindergartens and schools closed. The City Government and administration will follow the national guidelines for re-opening kindergartens and schools. This requires a gradual and controlled re-opening of:
- Kindergartens, from 20 to 27 April
- Primary schools for 1st to 4th year, from 27 April
- Activity schools (freetime provision) from 27 April
- Upper secondary schools for students in the second and third year of further education and vocational training from 27 April.
Other City services which were closed earlier, such as libraries and sports facilities, will remain closed. It will still be forbidden to serve alcohol. Of the City of Oslo’s 53,000 employees, those who can work from home will be strongly advised to continue to do so.
Governing Mayor Raymond Johansen (Labour) said, «Oslo is in a very special situation. There are nearly 700,000 people living in the city. In kindergartens and schools, we have about 130,000 children and young people. We live close to each other, with 215,000 people living in the inner-city alone. That’s why it is essential that the re-opening happens gradually and in a carefully controlled way.»
The Governing Mayor emphasised that the re-opening will be on the condition that the infection spread stays under control, and that the kindergartens and schools have safe measures to prevent infection.
The Vice Mayor for Education, Inga Marte Thorkildsen (Socialist Left), commented, «We are preparing for a gradual re-opening of kindergartens and schools in Oslo. We look forward to receiving clear national guidelines for the infection prevention measures which will have to be in place before re-opening. These guidelines are needed urgently.»
At the same time as the City of Oslo is preparing to open kindergartens and schools, they have set up quarantine services at hotels for people who are infected by the coronavirus. The City of Oslo has agreements for 248 quarantine places for people who are infected and cannot live at home.
Raymond Johansen explained, «It is particularly important for those who live in crowded homes and where there are several generations living together. Testing, tracing and quarantining will still be the most important weapons we have to fight the virus. »
The City of Oslo will provide criteria for allocating places. Additional places may also be made available, in addition to those that have already been established.
Status for the spread of infection in Oslo
There are 1673 confirmed coronavirus cases in Oslo, according to the latest figures. Nearly 30 percent of the corona-cases in Norway are in Oslo. The reproduction-number for Oslo has not been calculated, but it is likely to be higher than in the rest of the country.
«The situation is far from over and the numbers of coronavirus cases is still high, even though the numbers of new cases per day has fallen. If we all do our best, we will succeed in controlling the spread of infection and prevent the health services becoming overwhelmed. Even more than before, we must stick to the rules for hygiene, quarantine and distancing, so that we avoid situations that we can see in other European cities, » said the Vice Mayor for Health, Ageing and Municipal Services, Robert Steen (Labour).
Press contact
media@byr.oslo.kommune.no / +47 99 28 90 90 (not SMS)
Further navigation
All status reports from Oslo city council on coronavirus outbreak